***
See disclaimer in Chapter 1. Unfortunately, I don't own 'em.
***
Hermione frowned at the large parcel sitting on the table in front of her. It was wrapped in plain brown paper, with nothing other than her name and the return address written in tidy scrawl across the top. All in all, it was a pretty innocuous-looking thing. Which is why Luna couldn't quite figure out why Hermione was staring at it as though it might bite her at any moment.
"It's too small to be harboring an Umbugular Slashkilter, if that's what you're worried about," Luna chirped, drawing a glare from the brunette.
"I didn't believe those existed in fifth year, and I don't believe in them now," she said sourly, pushing the unopened package away from her and stirring her morning tea. "It's from my parents."
Luna just nodded wisely, pouring her own tea into a cereal bowl and covering it with a generous helping of Weetabix and a sprinkling of sugar.
"Some species of Finches are known for eating their young," she said gravely, taking a spoonful of her cereal.
That startled a laugh out of Hermione, and her expression softened considerably.
"I really do love you, Luna," she said affectionately, tearing into the parcel before she could lose her nerve
***
"– specialist from St. Mungo's who works with witches and wizards who have fractures in their magical cores," McGonagall said, ignoring the look of horror on Neville's face.
"That's really not necessary, Professor," he squeaked, a hot blush rushing to his face. He didn't understand why everyone was so sure there was something wrong with him. He was an average-powered wizard, maybe a bit below. It didn't bother him, and he didn't see why no one else could accept it.
"Neville," Augusta Longbottom scolded, studying him with a severe expression. Her presence upset him more than anything; he was an of-age wizard, for Merlin's sake! Head of his family! It was utterly mortifying that the Headmistress would have called his Gran in for this unnecessary meeting. "You'll not take that tone with your elders."
Neville seethed silently, his blush darkening as his anger increased. He wished Pansy had been able to come with him, though he suspected the Headmistress had scheduled the meeting at a time his fiancée was in her lessons on purpose. Likely they figured it would be easy to cow poor, doddering Neville into doing what they wanted if she wasn't with him. His usually gentle brown eyes flashed with fury, and he stood abruptly, settling his tea cup on its saucer with a loud clink.
"Thank you for your concern, Headmistress," he said coolly, his heart racing underneath his forced calm. He never noticed the portrait frames on the walls beginning to shake, or the way the trinkets on McGonagall's desk trembled. "I assure you I am more than capable of seeking out any assistance I might need, though at this time I am not convinced of the necessity.
He turned to his grandmother, making sure she could see the fury on his face. They'd already had several discussions about his role as the head of the family, and it looked like they'd be having more in the near future.
"It was kind of you to come all this way, Gran," he said quietly, the undertone of steel in his voice making his true feelings on the matter clear. He'd use the familial magic imbued in his title if he had to, just as he'd threatened to do when she challenged his engagement to Pansy, and she knew it. "I'm sorry the trip was wasted."
He walked toward the door, his muscles vibrating with anger.
"Please," he said, gesturing to the women who had started to stand, "do finish your tea. I'll see myself out."
***
Luna slid into her seat in Household Spells, barely making it before Molly closed the door and began the class. She motioned to Theo, rolling her eyes when the Slytherin merely frowned in confusion. She turned to Draco, who had the desk next to hers, whispering urgently in his ear. A flash of concern flitted over his features before he schooled them into his usual smirk of indifference.
He cast a spell when Molly's back was turned, gritting his teeth when he heard Theo's deep inhalation of surprise across the room. Most of Slytherin knew the spell, and they'd used it to communicate – in every class but Snape's, of course – for years. He charmed his quill and began to write in the margins of his notes, knowing the words would appear on Theo's parchment.
Shut up, you idiot! Do you want to get caught?
He heard Theo snort before words began to scrawl themselves across his own page.
Stuff it, Draco. We haven't used this for years. I was surprised.
Draco sighed, scribbling the information Luna had given him on his parchment. It must be bad, he reasoned, for her to be worried. Luna never worried about anything, and Hermione never missed class.
Luna says Hermione got a package from her parents this morning. She's been locked in her room ever since she opened it. She set a Silencing Spell, but Luna could still hear crashes through the door. She's still there.
He could see Theo stiffen out of the corner of his eye. When Molly's attention was focused on demonstrating a spell at the front of the classroom, Theo quickly gathered his books and bag and darted silently from the room. Harry, Luna and Draco were the only ones to notice his quick exit.
Harry blinked, leaning over and looking at the words scribbled on Draco's parchment. His eyebrows rose as he looked around the classroom, noting Hermione's absence for the first time, as well as two other curiously empty seats.
"Where are Pansy and Neville?" he whispered.
***
" – nerve of that woman! And calling Gran in, that was just perfect. She's always been disappointed in my magical strength, and now the Headmistress has to go and give her false hope!"
Pansy watched Neville stalk around their rooms, casting surreptitious charms to protect anything breakable when the irate wizard passed it. He seemed to be quite unaware of the way his magic was leaking, and she didn't dare interrupt to tell him.
"Why can't they just accept me for what I am?" Neville said miserably, collapsing on the sofa next to Pansy. He scrubbed his hands over his face, growling in frustration.
She waited until he'd been silent for a few minutes before gently pulling his hands from his head, cupping one of them between both of her own. He wasn't going to like what she had to say, but it didn't change the fact that it had to be said.
"Neville," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "You know that I love you, and I'd love you even if you didn't have enough strength to Apparate from here to Hogsmeade."
She paused, pinning him with an intense gaze. She could feel his hand twitch in hers, and she knew he was bracing himself for what she was about to say.
"But I think you have to see the specialist, love. You accidently Apparated yourself to France, Neville. You're leaking destructive magic, even if you haven't noticed it. I've never seen anything like it, except –"
"Except for Harry, the most powerful and magically repressed wizard in the history of England," he said flatly, letting his head fall back against the sofa in resignation.
Pansy stroked his cheek, caressing the line of his jaw gently.
"What if all those magical accidents you've had for years aren't just the result of clumsiness or forgetfulness, Nev? What if they're right, and you've this massive pool of power locked inside of you where it can't get out? That's dangerous, Neville. My uncle died from a dislocated magical core. Maybe they're all wrong, and Apparating to France was just a freak accident. Fine. But what if they're not wrong?"
Neville sighed, cracking open his eyes to look at Pansy's face. She had tears running down her cheeks, a testament to how upset she was, since the girl usually had a tight control over her emotions. It broke his heart, and he knew he'd been beaten.
"Fine. I'll get the name from the Headmistress tomorrow and Fire-call –"
"His name is Healer Arnot. You have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon," she said calmly, dashing her tears away with the back of her hand as though they'd never even fallen.
Neville squinted at her, a small smile curving his lips. He'd obviously been played, and played well. He could hardly fault her for it; she only wanted what was best for him, for their future.
"Do you even have any uncles, Pans?"
***
Harry let his legs dangle over the low wall, his feet barely touching the tall grass underneath. An owl had come for him at lunch, detailing an appointment Lucius had set up for Harry with his private investment firm. He'd made it clear in his brief letter that it was unacceptable for a Malfoy to allow anyone but the best to handle his money.
"But I'm not a Malfoy, Draco," he said petulantly, picking the petals off a piece of clover.
Draco shrugged, cleaning a spot off for himself with a quick Cleaning Charm before settling down on the wall next to Harry.
"You will be, soon enough," he said indifferently, shrugging his shoulders slightly. He'd assumed Harry would keep his own accounts separate, which was customary when two old and powerful families joined. Hopefully they'd have two heirs – though he supposed three would be better, since Harry had two inheritances – so each of the family names could be carried on.
Harry snorted, throwing the mutilated piece of clover over the wall and watching it sink slowly through the air, caught on some unseen current.
"I'm marrying a Malfoy, Draco. That doesn't make me a Malfoy. I'll still be a Potter."
Draco looked up with a frown, pausing to study Harry's absolutely serious face before replying.
"Don't be ridiculous," he said sharply. "You'll take the Malfoy name, of course. All Malfoy spouses do. Our first child will be a Malfoy, and after that we'll have to figure out how many more to have and which ones to designate as the Potter and Black heirs, but you'll be a Malfoy."
Harry gaped at the blond, an icy feeling shooting through his veins. Draco didn't go in for most of the pure-blood shite his parents did, not anymore at least, and Harry hadn't thought keeping his name would be a problem. After all, it wasn't like he was a girl.
"Wait," he said slowly, his eyes widening as a horrifying thought dawned on him. "I'm not going to be your wife, Draco. We'll be husbands, equals. I'll keep my name and you'll keep yours. We'll work the heirs thing out if the opportunity to have children ever presents itself, but don't think for a minute that I'm going to give up my name!"
Harry boosted himself off the wall, landing lightly on his feet at the base. He shot a glare at Draco before clenching his jaw and storming back toward the castle, his mood darkening with every step.
***
Theo heard the crashes the moment he stepped into the set of rooms Hermione and Luna shared, which meant Hermione's Silencing Spell must have totally failed at some point. He threw his bag aside and hurried to her closed bedroom door, expecting the worst. Had her parents disowned her? Demanded she never see him again? What could have possibly provoked this kind of reaction out of Hermione, who was usually so calm and reasonable?
His hand closed around the doorknob, unsurprised that it wouldn't turn. Her Locking Spell had been much more effective than the Silencing Spell she'd cast. He backed up a few paces, shooting several spells toward the door in quick succession. He'd gotten rather good at opening locked doors and penetrating wards over the years, since Draco had been partial to locking them all out of their dorm whenever he wanted a wank, which was often.
The next time he tried the knob yielded, and he edged the door open cautiously, mindful of the continuing crashes from inside the room. Without even thinking, he threw up a protective barrier when a porcelain figurine came careening at his head the moment he stepped around the now-open door.
"Theo!" Hermione shrieked, throwing her wand aside and lunging at him. He dropped the barrier just seconds before she would have hit it. "God, I'm so sorry! Are you hurt? I didn't know you were there, I –"
He silenced her with a kiss, his hands coming up to cradle the back of her head as he pulled away and studied her tear-streaked face. Something was most definitely wrong, and his heart sank. He couldn't expect her to side with him over her family, but he swore to himself he'd at least fight for her, even if it meant going back to the Grangers by himself and announcing his intentions.
"They think I'm pregnant, Theo," she said miserably, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest. "Pregnant! Me! As if I'd be that irresponsible! As if you'd be that irresponsible! As if we wouldn't have gone to them the instant we'd found out if I actually was! How can they think that of me?"
He stroked her hair, stepping over the rubble littering her bedroom floor as he sought out a clear space to sit. He swept a few books off her bed, cringing when he saw several of the loosened leaves dislodge from the ruined bindings as they fell to the floor. She'd definitely regret that when she calmed down; Hermione's respect for her books bordered on worship. Theo pulled Hermione into his lap, cuddling her against his chest.
"We've always been close, which is why it was so upsetting to be engaged to you without having talked about it with them first," she said, her voice muffled since she was still pressing her face into his robes. "I thought they knew me. But then I got that –" she made a vague motion over her shoulder, and he turned to see a box with several books in it and a crumpled letter on top "– and I don't know how they could even think that!"
Her anger drained out of her as he held her, abruptly shifting to tears. He held her for what seemed like forever as he waited for her soft crying to stop. When it did, he shifted her in his arms so he could reach behind himself and pull the box over. He could hear her breathing even out, and he figured she'd fallen asleep, probably exhausted after her impressive tantrum and subsequent crying jag.
Theo rescued the letter first, smoothing it against the bedspread as best he could one-handed before holding it up so he could read it. It had been written by Hermione's mother, who professed deep disappointment and shock that her daughter had found herself in that position, as well as anger that she hadn't come to them for help right away. Ah, he thought, scanning through a few paragraphs of accusations and recriminations, so that's what set this off. She was much too self-assured to let a simple misunderstanding like this upset her so; he figured it must have been her mother's words that hurt her the most. After all, it was a simple enough thing to correct their mistake.
He set the letter aside, rifling through the box to see what books could possibly have accompanied a missive like the one Mrs. Granger had sent. He had to clamp his lips shut to stop his laughter when he saw the titles, sure those had only added to Hermione's rage. What to Expect When You're Expecting; Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth; The Single Woman's Guide to a Happy Pregnancy; The Unplanned Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students.
He sighed, pushing the box away and using his wand to clear a larger space on Hermione's bed. There was hope for things, he was sure of that. Even in their anger, the Grangers cared enough about their daughter to send her the information they thought she needed. He just needed to talk to them and get them to understand what was actually going on. He eased her down gently, prying her fingers from the folds in his robes and smoothing her hair against the pillow. She shifted but didn't wake.
Theo looked around her ruined room, his chest aching at the thought that her mother's letter had caused Hermione such distress. He vowed to make it right as soon as he could, moving up the plan he and Harry had come up with by several weeks. As he started repairing items and gathering those he couldn't fix to throw away, Theo wondered if Hermione's reaction to her parents thinking she was pregnant was really all about her being hurt and not some hint that she didn't want to have children at all.
***
"Are you sure there's nothing else she needs?" Hannah asked, her voice hushed. Hermione had woken around midday, but Draco had given her a Calming Draught almost immediately and put her back to sleep.
Everyone in their group of friends had been shocked to hear that Hermione had gotten so distressed about something – and speculation was running wild, since Harry, Draco, Theo and Luna refused to give the details. She was usually the one they could count on to be stable and reasonable, and now she'd had what amounted to a major meltdown only a few weeks after her outburst at the Zabini estate.
"Really, she's fine," Harry assured her, taking a pile of notes and homework from Blaise as he led them into Hermione and Luna's sitting room. He knew Hermione would appreciate the notes when she felt better, and he told them so.
"Do you lot need anything?" Blaise asked, his eyes lingering on a tired-looking Theo, who was huddled in the corner with Luna and Draco. "Dinner? More potions?"
Harry smiled again, glad they had such great friends. He and Draco still weren't talking, but the blond hadn't hesitated for a second when Luna had pulled them out of Wards and Home Protections, babbling about Hermione needing a Calming Draught and Theo needing help handling her. The dark-haired wizard was sure they'd get past their latest fight, but he was still seething over Draco and his father's arrogance.
"Nothing, thanks. Would you mind stopping by Nev's, though? I promised to let him know what was going on, but things got crazy here and I didn't get the chance."
Hannah nodded, giving Harry a quick kiss on the cheek and pulling Blaise toward the door. The small space was already crowded with the other four, and she was sure Hermione would be mortified if she woke up and found anyone else there.
"And Ron, too?" Harry added, opening the door for them. "He can talk to Ginny. She's probably over there anyway. He and Dean usually play chess at night while Gin and Lavender hang out."
"Sure thing, Harry," Blaise said, sending another worried glance at Theo before shutting the door behind himself.
Harry sagged against the closed door, tired of herding people out of the suite all night. Practically all of their friends – and even a few professors – had stopped by to see if Hermione was ill, and he was tired of making polite excuses. He'd told most of them the truth, that she'd had an upsetting letter from home and needed a bit to get her head around it before she'd be ready for company. Merlin, he just wanted to ward the door and have a good, stiff drink!
He let out a soft laugh when Luna looked up as though sensing his mood shift. She darted into the kitchen, holding up a bottle of Firewhisky. He shook his head, wondering not for the first time if there was a lot more to Luna than she let anyone see.
***
Coming up next: Hermione's embarrassment over her overreaction (cause let's be honest, it was! *grins*), Theo pays the Grangers a visit, Harry talks to Narcissa and Neville gets the magical equivalent of a physical.